Okay, so this is the bee I have in my bonnet. I was listening to Lady and the Tramp in the background while finishing off some work and my friend who is also a dog lover said "You know that Lady is actually a 'Cocker Spaniel' and not a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel' I was like "No way!" and she said "Yeah I looked it up". So what did I do? I looked it up also and the majority of the people that answered the question say she is a cocker spaniel. I know this is really silly but it is BUGGING ME!

I strongly believe that Lady is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. When you look at pictures of a Cocker Spaniel it looks nothing like Lady.

What do you all think?

Bellybob

19th December 2011, 10:14 AM

Definitely a Cavalier I say :rolleyes:

Desrae

19th December 2011, 02:14 PM

They all say cocker spaniel, even Wikipedia, but I would like to think she's Ruby Cavalier... ah well, nonetheless, they are both lovely breeds and it's a sweet movie!

meljoy

19th December 2011, 02:19 PM

Hate to burst anyone's bubble but in the scene where Lady is being collected after being at the pound the dog catcher actually say "That cute little cocker at the back"

Sorry

Lani

19th December 2011, 02:22 PM

When I went to Meet the Breeds (AKC event) last year the American Cocker Spaniel booth was all about Lady and the tramp. They recreated the whole scene:
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/lanibass/lady.jpg

But I have to say that when I would walk Lucky on his own, everyone would make comments about Lady and the Tramp and how he was Lady. I didn't have the heart to let on he was a boy ;-)

Karlin

19th December 2011, 03:19 PM

If I recall, the artist actually was familiar with Cavaliers as well, or owned one, or something like that so I would say that may have influenced appearance, but I would always have understood her to be more “officially” likely to be a Cocker–Cavaliers were hardly known in the US back when that film 1st came out! Anything done by Disney takes animal faces and shortens the noses into a more babyish face–think of Bambi (actually I was just reading something recently about how the animators were pretty much forced to give Bambi as shorter little turned up baby face to make the character cuter…). so the fact that the nose is a bit shorter than a typical Cocker would really be neither here nor there I think–just an animation quirk for characterization. :)

All that aside–I think it is really surprising that breed clubs would promote a breed through its use in a film. I know most people who are dedicated to breeds, including and especially good health focused breeders, hope and pray their breeds will never be featured in a film because this immediately leads to serious over breeding and exploitation. The very last thing I would be doing would be reminding people that a character they like is apparently of such and such a breed! The main breeders who benefit from that kind of popularity are the puppy farms and puppy mills. Every single breed that is featured in a popular way in a film–Cairn Terriers in the Wizard of Oz, rough collies in Lassie, Alsatians in Rin tin tin, Dalmatians in 101 Dalmatians, the Chihuahua in the Taco Bell commercials–all of them have been subject to massive breeding booms where it is the puppy farms that churn them out and then create health issues for the breeds that can take them decades to recover from, if at all. :yikes

Cavaliers already have so much on their plate in terms of health problems that personally I'm glad if the general public thinks the character of Lady is a breed other than a Cavalier! Not that I would wish anything further on Cockers either, as they have a lot of their own problems and are lovely dogs, but Cavaliers as a breed are closer to my heart. :)

I guess it's hard too–because we all like to see breeds that we like portrayed in an affectionate way in stories, film, etc. but at the same time, it can end up so damaging for the breeds!

Soushiruiuma

19th December 2011, 05:11 PM

My dogs get called cockers all the time. So, Lady is probably a similar case of mistaken identity.

Alana

19th December 2011, 07:21 PM

Thank you everyone.

dandelos

19th December 2011, 09:40 PM

My dogs get called cockers all the time. So, Lady is probably a similar case of mistaken identity.

Tell me about it..if I had a penny each time someone saw Skippy and said "Oh I love Cocker Spaniels!" or, "I used to have a Cocker Spaniel myself!", I'd be a kabillionaire.

Soushiruiuma

19th December 2011, 11:58 PM

Tell me about it..if I had a penny each time someone saw Skippy and said "Oh I love Cocker Spaniels!" or, "I used to have a Cocker Spaniel myself!", I'd be a kabillionaire.

My favourite is "that's definitely a cocker spaniel."

Jay

20th December 2011, 01:59 AM

Lady doesn't have a tail! Just the little dock that you see in Cockers.

J.

Desrae

20th December 2011, 02:29 AM

This is an interesting thread! Lol I have to add to what Karlin said about the breeds being featured in film, etc. What about Jack Russell Terriers? I am a huge fan of Frasier, and know a lot of people who are too, some of whom wanted to get a Jack Russell. Years ago, a friend of a friend got one and found out that hers was not the clever Eddie, but was very high energy and tenacious, she had much trouble with him and ended up giving him away. :-(